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Foresight Update 23 - Table of Contents | Page1 | Page2 | Page3 | Page4 |
In recognition of pioneering work to synthesize complex
three-dimensional structures with DNA molecules, Foresight
Institute awarded the 1995
Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology to Nadrian C.
Seeman, Ph.D., chemistry professor at New York University.
The Feynman Prize, including a $10,000 cash award, is given
biennially by Foresight Institute in recognition of scientific
work that most advances the development of molecular
nanotechnology. The prize was presented by K. Eric Drexler,
Ph.D., founder and chairman of Foresight Institute. In presenting
the award, Drexler said, "Ned Seeman's work is particularly
significant because it provides the first systematic way of
designing and building large three- dimensional molecular
objects."
Drexler presented the award during the fourth Foresight
Conference on Molecular Nanotechnology, at which 300
participants from 16 nations heard 30 presentations on scientific
progress toward nanotechnology and policy implications of
nanotechnology. The conference was held November 9-11 in Palo
Alto.
Seeman received the award for developing ways to construct
three-dimensional structures, including cubes and more complex
polyhedra, from synthesized DNA molecules. Since natural DNA is a
linear strand, scientists hadn't previously known how to create
complex DNA structures. Seeman found how to attach strands of DNA
projecting from points along another DNA strand. In addition to
this DNA branching technique, he also has created knots and
catenanes (linked molecular loops) with synthesized DNA chains.
These techniques create the means to construct complex devices on
a nanometer scale.
Nadrian Seeman
gives the 1995 Feynman Prize lecture
In a lucid and witty acceptance speech at which he described his
work, Seeman referred to art works by E.C. Escher from which he
had drawn inspiration, a photo of light fixtures created from
human bones in an Italian monastery, and a deity-invoking flow
chart to describe the frustrating process of crystal creation in
a laboratory.
Seeman explained that he came at his award-winning solution from
his background in crystallography. He and his colleagues were
frustrated at their inability to crystallize molecules in which
they were interested. While studying Holliday junctions in DNA
(points at which four strands of DNA form four double helical
arms about a central branch), he realized that it would be
possible to create a synthetic DNA with more than four branching
points. In a flash of inspiration "while sitting in the
campus pub one afternoon," Seeman recognized that six-arm
junctions could be used to create cubic lattices, he said. He was
inspired by an M.C. Escher woodcut, Depth, picturing
a school of fishlike creatures swimming in parallel in three
dimensions, "just like the molecules in a crystal."
Since that inspiration, Seeman and his colleagues have built
complex geometric figures from DNA, he said. Their progress was
aided by automated synthesis of DNA, which was developed about
that time. His constructions include DNA cubic structures and
more complex polyhedra.
One problem Seeman faces is non-rigidity ("floppiness")
of his three-dimensional DNA constructs. He illustrated the
nature of the problem with a picture of a marshmallow impaled by
uncooked rottini pasta as a metaphor for floppy joints holding
together relatively rigid strands.
Although he has synthesized more complicated structures,
including a truncated octahedron (a 14 catenane), he's going back
to simpler molecules now, seeking to get around the floppiness
problem. To do so, he is working with an alternating tetrahedron
form, a concept for which Buckminster Fuller got a patent.
Seeman said he is hoping to use architectural properties of DNA
to direct the assembly of other molecules.
The Feynman Prize is named in honor of Nobel Laureate Caltech
physicist Richard P.
Feynman. His 1959 talk at Caltech, "There's Plenty
of Room at the Bottom," first pointed in the direction
of molecular manufacturing.
For more information, see on the Web
http://nano.xerox.com/nanotech/feynmanPrize.html
Foresight Update 23 - Table of Contents |
Much remains to be accomplished before molecular manufacturing
becomes reality, but computer simulation and laboratory
experiments are moving steadily in that direction. Challenges
abound, but no insurmountable barriers have materialized as
research continues.
That summarizes the view observers drew from technical
presentations and policy discussions about molecular
nanotechnology at the Fourth Foresight
Conference on Molecular Nanotechnology. The three-day
gathering of the world's foremost scientists who are working on
nanotechnology-related projects was held November 9-11 in Palo
Alto, CA. More than 300 people drawn from 16 countries
participated in the conference. Corporate and institutional
sponsors (see separate box)
significantly contributed to the conference success.
Conference chair Ralph Merkle
told Update at the end of the conference that the tone of this
year's event differed substantially from previous years.
"There are a lot more grey heads in the audience," he
said. "That means very bright and highly regarded senior
people have joined the discussion. The feasibility of
nanotechnology is no longer in doubt among most scientists; they
are now turning their attention and resources to the challenges
of bringing molecular manufacturing from theory into
practice."
Some two dozen technical topics, plus other policy, business,
legal and economic aspects of nanotechnology were addressed
during the conference. Additional researchers presented their
findings using poster exhibits describing results of research
they had undertaken.
As Foresight Institute moves more and more toward basing its
communications upon the World Wide Web, more
nanotechnology-related information will become available on the
Web. In particular, Merkle says that most presentations given at
the conference will be available on the Web and linked from the
conference page at http://nano.xerox.com/nanotech/nano4.html.
With that information available in detail, and with tapes also
available, Update does not plan to report exhaustively on the
conference proceedings. A complete
listing of the speakers, and their topics, accompanies this
article.
Video and audio recordings of the entire proceedings are
available. They can be ordered directly from the production
company, Sound Photosynthesis,
P.O. Box 2111, Mill Valley, CA 94942-2111. Call: (415) 383-6712.
Audio tapes are $10 per lecture + tax and mailing costs of $2 per
three tapes. Tax is 7.25% for CA residents.
Videotapes are $35 plus tax and shipping per two-hour tape. The
lectures are arranged sequentially on tape according to the
conference program. Tax is as above and shipping is $3 per
videotape.
A single "conference highlights" compilation videotape
is available for the the same price as the other videotapes.
Please email any questions to faustin@aol.com
or creon@netcom.com.
Foresight Update 23 - Table of Contents |
Caltech
Materials and Process Simulation Center
USC Molecular Robotics
Lab
Institute for Molecular
Manufacturing
Beckman
Instruments, Inc.
Molecular Manufacturing
Enterprises, Inc.
Biosym/Molecular
Simulations, JEOL,
Loral Systems Manufacturing Company
Niehaus Ryan Haller;
Weil, Gotshal & Manges
Foresight Update 23 - Table of Contents | Page1 | Page2 | Page3 | Page4 |
From Foresight Update 23, originally
published 30 November 1995.
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